Photo: Scuderia AlphaTauri / Twitter
According to Red Bull Racing’s motorsport advisor, Helmut Marko, the UK-based Austrian outfit is likely to lose Pierre Gasly once his contract expires in 2023, if they cannot offer him a return to the senior squad. Gasly raced for Red Bull in 2019, only to be demoted to Toro Rosso just 12 races into the season while struggling to keep up with Max Verstappen.
However, instead of letting his demotion define him, Gasly took Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) to the next level, grabbing a stunning win at Monza in 2020, followed by two further podium finishes – all this despite his car not being as quick as a Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren or even Alpine/Renault, at that time.
Gasly’s performance these past two seasons has led to suggestions that he could one day return to Red Bull, with former Toro Rosso co-owner Gerhard Berger claiming the Frenchman was “good enough to get another chance.”
Marko is well aware of this and has acknowledged that Red Bull might lose Gasly’s services if they cannot offer him what some believe would be a well-deserved promotion, reports Motorsport.
“Gerhard is right, but at the moment we still have a contract with Checo [Sergio Perez],” said Marko. “We have to compare the performance of these two drivers, and with Checo we still have until the middle of the year.”
“With Gasly we still have a contract until 2023, and it’s already clear that if this contract expires and we can’t offer him a chance to move up, we will most likely lose him, and we don’t want that.”
Both Gasly and Perez have looked great so far in 2022, but it’s the latter that’s shown a clear improvement over his performance last season – Perez secured pole position in Saudi Arabia, before a safety car incident messed up his strategy.
Gasly’s performance these past two seasons has led to suggestions that he could one day return to Red Bull, with former Toro Rosso co-owner Gerhard Berger claiming the Frenchman was “good enough to get another chance.”
Marko is well aware of this and has acknowledged that Red Bull might lose Gasly’s services if they cannot offer him what some believe would be a well-deserved promotion, reports Motorsport.
“Gerhard is right, but at the moment we still have a contract with Checo [Sergio Perez],” said Marko. “We have to compare the performance of these two drivers, and with Checo we still have until the middle of the year.”
“With Gasly we still have a contract until 2023, and it’s already clear that if this contract expires and we can’t offer him a chance to move up, we will most likely lose him, and we don’t want that.”
Both Gasly and Perez have looked great so far in 2022, but it’s the latter that’s shown a clear improvement over his performance last season – Perez secured pole position in Saudi Arabia, before a safety car incident messed up his strategy.
Google News